Schools were called off in anticipation of a wintry mix. The weather forecasts called for rain to fall through the night. They said temperatures would steadily drop to below freezing. The rain would turn to sleet…and the sleet to snow. To top it all off, the wet roads and streets would become treacherous as ice began to develop.
Then, we all collectively asked ourselves, “Do we have enough bread, milk, and eggs?”…and an abnormally large percentage of us (my household included) hopped in our cars and headed off to the store in preparation. But why? Do French Toast and scrambled eggs taste better when it snows? (Admittedly…the odds of French Toast consumption increase exponentially for my family during a snowstorm.)
Fortunately, meteorological technology has advanced our society to a point in which we have the luxury of procrastinating in our winter weather preparedness. We rely more and more on short-term predictions to help us decide on whether we can push off that grocery trip for one more day, and that’s possible because we’ve become fairly consistent at accurately predicting tomorrow’s weather.
For this reason, I envy meteorologists. Unlike predictions of tomorrow’s weather, stock market predictions have been incredibly unreliable…guesses at best. Despite their unreliability, we are still naturally attracted to or even seek out that glimpse into the future in hopes that we can delay preparation for a “snow storm” until tomorrow, or until absolutely necessary.
Market predictions, whether positive or negative, should never be relied upon for investment recommendations as they are only one person’s “guess” at what they think could happen. However, these guesses do serve as a good reminder to reevaluate how prepared we are to handle certain market scenarios. When reading these predictions, it’s important to be proactive and ask yourself, “Do I have enough bread, milk, and eggs to weather the storm?”
With that said, here are the stories that caught my eye this week:
MONEY: Stock-market investors should ‘brace for a possible near-term melt-up’ (MarketWatch)
Predictions! Yay! Throughout this historically long bull market, predictions have continually been made warning that a bear market or downturn is coming…and they are right. At least, they will be one day, maybe this year, maybe in five years, or maybe even ten years from now. The nature of the stock market is cyclical. It will eventually go down, but when, how far, and for how long, no one knows.
LIFE: The Bizarre Motivating Power of Aging into a New Decade (The Atlantic)
The inner (and outer) nerd in me found this one fascinating. I’m a sucker for a good study on human behavior. Why do we run our first marathons or mini-marathons in our “nine-ender” years (ages 29, 39, 49, & 59)? And, why do we tend to run the same race faster when we’re 39 rather than when we’re 38 or 40? Why do we make more life-altering decisions, positive and negative, in these same years? It turns out that we are hard-wired to be energized by deadlines, even if they are somewhat arbitrary, like the end of a decade in age.
KENTUCKY PENSIONS: KY lawmakers expect pension reform bill to be filed within days (WDRB)
As of this writing, we are ten days into the 2018 voting session and a new pension bill has yet to be officially filed. However, hints of details regarding a revised proposal are beginning to emerge. The article suggests that we should expect a “watered down” version of the original pension reform bill in the coming weeks. Though, what “watered down” means, exactly, is still unknown.
MOTIVATION: Fail Early, Fail Often – Will Smith (Youtube)
What’s life without positivity and motivation? I found this gem making its way across social media this week. The “Fresh Prince” delivers a powerful message about the role of failure in success and happiness. Growth is propelled through deliberate practice and controlled failures. Failure is not defeat. It’s a learning opportunity and a springboard to being the version of yourself that you strive to be.